JEDDAH: There has been a substantial increase in the number of disputes involving landlords and tenants in the Kingdom in recent years.
According to Naif Al-Sharif, professor of law at King Abdul Aziz University, there are more than 60,000 such cases pending before various courts, of which over 20,000 are in Jeddah, Al-Jazirah newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Many citizens have complained that they are victims of unjustified evictions from their rented homes by landlords. They also pointed out that some landlords prefer foreigners to Saudis as their tenants.
The experience of Saleh Al-Nashri is a typical example for this. He said his landlord was not at all lenient toward him when he evicted him all of a sudden. "One day, the landlord knocked my door and asked me to gather my family and leave the flat at the earliest. This happened even though I was very much prompt with my rent payments and there was not a single instance of me defaulting over the past 10 years," he said.
Al-Nashiri also drew attention to the trend that landlords do not rent out residential apartments to Saudis. He described this as a strange phenomenon.
Mazen Al-Badran, another citizen, said he was forced to rely on middlemen to rent out a residential flat in a prime location. "There are several residential buildings 'owned by' foreigners in the name of Saudis. These foreigners refuse to accept us as tenants, automatically considering us to be late with our payments," he said.
Muhammad Al-Harbi, a landlord, underscored the need for introducing stringent laws to protect landlords from defaulting tenants. "Enactment of such a law would help bring down even rates of rent. There is apathy on the part of many Saudis to make investments in this vital sector due to the absence of a law protecting their rights," he said.
Al-Harbi urged the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to bring out legislation protecting the rights of both landlords and tenants. "There should not be a situation where landlords evict tenants without notice. Such a law should be based on a respectable contract that prevents any injustice to either party," he said.
Commenting on the issue, Mazhar Al-Ghamdi, a real estate official, said nearly 90 percent of provisions in the rent contract are aimed at protecting the interests of landlords. "Many of these landlords are unable to collect rent from Saudi tenants on time. Therefore, they try to avoid Saudi tenants and prefer foreigners, especially those who work with companies that provide housing allowance," he said while claiming the absence of a law that penalizes defaulters is what leads to tenants failing to pay rent on time.
Al-Sharif suggested a unified rent contract endorsed by a court would be the ideal solution to protect the rights of both landlords and tenants. "There should be provisions in the law to prevent random hikes in rent as well as to compensate landlords who are victims of late payments," he said.
Al-Sharif attributed the increasing problems between landlords and tenants to the absence of such a law. "The ministries of commerce and justice did not enact any law to protect the rights of both parties," he said, adding Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah four years ago asked several ministries to develop such legislation.
© Arab News 2012
